The Beauty Underneath
by Allanna Stone
Summary: I do not own anything except for Rosie.
1. Chapter 1

**The Beauty Underneath**

**I do not own anything (except for Rosie.)**

**A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS:**

**Many thank yous to my good friend, Angel Rose, for proofreading my fanfictions!**

Erik was busy sulkin in the lair the night after Christine left with Raoul he knew that deep inside his heart that he had done the right thing, but there was still a part of him that mourned her deeply.

He slammed his fists onto his oragn in frusteration as he felt another sleppless night creeping over him.

Suddenly, he was dimly aware of something being washed up to shore on the banks of his lair. Trash washed up all the time, but he still went down to see what it was. Maybe it was something that he could use to prank the chorus girls!

When he saw what the thing was, he frowned. Who would toss away a perfectly good basket of fine quality?

But then, his highly trained ears picked up the sounds of movement coming from inside the basket. Erik picked up the basket, his curisity peaked as he placed the basket onto his bed and opened it.

He saw the last thing he would've ever expected to find.

A tiny pink bundle swaddling an infant smiled up at him. The girl (or he thought it was a girl) cooed and gurgled as she held her arms up to let him know that she wanted to be held. Erik gave in without even realizing it. He realized too late that he had left his mask off for the night as he gazed down at the child. To his shock, she didn't burst out into tears at the sight of his face, as he expected her to. Instead she babbled happily as she snuggled deeper into his chest.

Erik stood there with the bundle close to his chest for several minutes. He thought about what he could do with the child.

He could kill it.

He could leave it for one of the chorus girls to care for.

He could replace it back into the basket and push it off.

But he didn't do any of these things.

Instead, he stalked up the passageway that led to Madame Giry's bedroom.

He entered the room after extingushing the candle that she was reading by. After he had gotten himself situated did he dare to light the candle once more.

"Oh my heavens!" gasped Madame Giry, getting up out of bed. "What have you there?"

Erik showed her the tiny bundle, where the inhabitant had fallen asleep and had one of his lapels in a fist.

"A foundling," answered Erik, smiling down at the little bundle in his arms. "This child found me."

Madame Giry did not ask for an expalnation as she took the bundle from his arm and began to look it over. To no one's surprise, the child turned out to be little girl, of about three to four months of age. She had blond fuzz and gaint emerald green eyes and looked around her with interest.

"Her gums are healthy- she'll start to teeth in about another eight to nine months, her eyes are clear, no discharge from her nose or ears, she appears to be a healthy little girl," muttered the ballet mistress, turning with the infant in her arms. "I'm guessing that it is your intension to raise her as your own?"

"Yes," answered Erik shortly, holding his arms out for the little baby. After a moment of hesitation, the older woman arrnged Erik's arms to where the infant would be most comfortable.

"Now, a child this young needs to be watched at all times, so that means that you're not going to be pranking the girls for a few more months," bossed Madame Giry in a motherly tone of voice, bustling about her room collecting peices of clothings for the child. "She is prone to deseses at this early stage, so you must keep her clean at all times/ she'll drink only milk, warm milk at that as well, however, I don't belive she's hungry right now. Still, I will show you how to prepair a bottle..."

Erik smiled down at the little girl in his arms.

She was to be his salvation.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Beauty Underneath**

**I do not own anything (except for Rosie.)**

**A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS:**

**Many thank yous to my good friend, Angel Rose, for proofreading my fanfictions!**

A now one year old Rosie gurgled quietly as the phantom scaled the ropes that led up to the catwalk. Erik had long since learned that little Rosie would fuss if he wasn't within close contact with her. So he had designed a sling of sorts so when he would go out to terrorize the opera house, he could take little Rosie with him. Despite the fact that he knew she was safe in the sling, he always had a hand under her, holding her close to his chest.

Suddenly, Erik saw his chance for the perfect prank.

He breifly showed himself to one of the chorus girls, chuckling as she screamed loudly and ran away from him, yelling about the opera ghost.

Rosie began to giggle loudly at the pandemonian that her surrigate father had just created, causing for Erik to smile down at the little bundle of joy in his arms.

A few minutes later, after he had returned to his dormain, he placed little Rosie into his bed and climbed in with her. The little girl cooed quietly as she snuggled up next to the dangerous man.

Erik began to sing the girl's favorite bedtime lullaby.

"_Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation  
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination  
Silently the senses abandon their defenses  
Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor  
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender  
Turn your face away from the garish light of day  
Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light  
And listen to the music of the night  
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams  
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before  
Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar  
And you'll live as you've never lived before  
Softly, deftly, music shall caress you  
Hear it, feel it secretly posses you  
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind in this darkness that you know you cannot find  
The darkness of the music of the night  
Let your mind start to journey through a strange new world  
Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before  
Let your soul take you where you long to be  
Only then can you belong to me  
Floating, folding, sweet intoxication  
Touch me, trust me savor each sensation  
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in to the power of the music that I write  
The power of the music of the night  
You alone can make my song take flight  
Help me make the music of the night"_

Erik finished singing and looked down to see little Rosie had fallen asleep with her head buried in his chest. The phantom smiled as he removed his mask and drifted off to sleep.

~oOo~

The next morning, Erik woke up to little hands on his face. He opened his eyes and jumped when he saw that little Rosie was awake and happily exploring his face. With a roar of shock, he grabbed his mask and fitted it onto his face, causing for little Rosie to start wailing.

"Oh, don't cry, it's alright, I'm here," he murmured quietly, trying in vain to molify the little girl's cries. She only stoped long enough to tug at his mask. "What? You don't like my mask?" he asked, taking it off just to see what would happen. Immeadtly, her tears stopped and she giggled, patting his scarred and disformed face with glee. "Oh, so that's it, you don't like my mask," grumbled Erik.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Beauty Underneath**

**I do not own anything (except for Rosie.)**

**A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS:**

**Many thank yous to my good friend, Angel Rose, for proofreading my fanfictions!**

At sixteen months, little Rosie began to teeth. Even though she rarely complained, she contantly chewed on something.

Her favorite item to chew on was the phantom's famous white half face mask.

At first, Erik was stern, taking his mask away from the little girl whom he learned to call daughter. Finally, he gave up, instead wearing another mask from his vast colletion.

It was one night when Erik woke up to see that Rosie was balancing herself n=by holding onto his headboard with both hands and was standing.

Erik grabbed her and placed her onto the floor, offering her his hands for her to use as she took her first few steps. She started to tumble; Erik caught her every time she would fall down.

"You can walk!" praised Erik, smiling down at the little girl, who was at this point, toddling after Erik, their hands still entwined.

Erik boomed out a laugh as he stooped down to scoop up little Rosie into his strong arms.

"My little Rosie," he murmured softly as the young girl tucked her head underneath his chin and fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Beauty Underneath**

**I do not own anything (except for Rosie.)**

**A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS:**

**Many thank yous to my good friend, Angel Rose, for proofreading my fanfictions!**

Rosie giggled madly as she hid herself in the rafters above the stage. She could hear Erik searching for her, calling out her name. The five year old girl knew the opera house better than the back of her hand and found a new place to hide from Erik every night when he would tell her that it was time to return to their home for the day.

She gasped quietly as she saw Erik's boots stop before the table that she had hidden herself underneath. He stopped, seeming to think before he perched himself on top of the table, wondering out loud where his little Rosie had gone.

Then one of his boots kicked her in the face.

Rosie yelped loudly, causing for the nortious phantom to jump off the table and peek underneath. What he saw made his heart cry with sadness. Rosie had gained a bloody nose, thanks to his unawarness and farce of pretending that he didn't know where she was hiding. He had, of course, knew where she was hiding- he had just kicked his legs a bit too hard.

"Rosie!" he crooned, scooping the five year old girl up into his strong, musuclar arms and cradling her close to his chest. "I'm so sorry- I didn't know where you were..."

Rosie sniffled and burried her face into his shirt, smearing blood all over the fabric. Erik rocked the young girl in his arms as he trekked down to the dark abyss of the opera house catacombs. Once they reached the boat, Rosie scrambled into it, her small hands pinching her nose shut as she leaned forwards to stop the bleeding.

Upon reaching the secret hideout, Erik grabbed his adopted daughter and carried her over to the bed that they still shared. He began to examine her nose, releved that he hadn't broken it. He had only made it bleed.

After a few more moments of crooning and holding her, Rosie's nose stopped bleeding and she fell asleep in Erik's arms, her body curls up next to his chest.

Erik smiled down at the little girl who he was raising and kicked off his boots, tucking her into bed with him. Ever since he had first discovered her, Rosie would always sleep with him. It quickly beame something that Erik grew used to- having her sleep on his chest when she was just a few months old to having her slumber next to him, curled up into a tight little ball. Sometimes, whenever she would have a nightmare- which was about once a week- she would begin to blindly attack Erik with her fists- once she kicked him off the bed, to his amusment. But other than that, she was a sound sleeper.

Erik smiled down at Rosie and noticed how long her eyelashes were. He knew that his little girl would be a heatbreaker when she grew up.

Looked like he would get to use his punjab lasso again.


End file.
